What a day I have planned. The usual morning ritual of French Press, Cornflakes, bananas and milk with a touch of yogurt, writing, taking a shower and then out to the street. I wait at the 38 bus-stop on Boulevard St. Michel in the hopes that the Fete de Fiertes, or what we all know as Gay Pride will pass right before my eyes, a good seat in the bus rest.

All of a sudden, across the street, right in front of Luxembourg Gardens, I see people beginning to transform, pulling out festive clothing right in front of all of Paris. I rush across the street when traffic abates. There is a band concert in the Gardens. I keep expecting hundreds of men in drag to burst down the boulevard.

The parade began about an hour ago down on Place du 18 Juin 1940 near the Montparnesse-Bienvenue Metro stop and will end at the Bastille with a massive party scheduled to begin at 5PM.

Then, the sound of another band, and a bevy of motorcycles comes closer and closer followed by banners and floats. The parade has begun. I take so many photos that I have exhausted my memory card in my camera by the end of the first hour of the parade. I escape to the ice cream stand by the Gardens, get some strawberry glace, venture in and find a park bench on which to sit, eat my ice cream and delete 50 pictures which I feel at the moment don't deserve to be stored in my memory. Out of sight, and so forth.

There is much more to share with you from this day's adventures. Return tomorrow for the details as another day unfolds in Paris.